Katara awoke to the sound of waves crashing on a beach. She felt the warm sun on her face and a gentle breeze wafting over her. She was lying on some cushions, on her side, and they seemed real enough. Her left hand was clasped around a teacup. That too seemed real, though that was less comforting.

So it hadn't been a dream.

She opened one eye, then another. She saw a crystal blue sky above her. There were big palm trees casting a shadows into the courtyard. Someone had set up a tea-table in the half-shade. Schematics about drinking fountains and town plans lay in front of her, Sokka's messy handwriting was in the margins. The ink was still fresh, so he must be somewhere around. Katara looked around and saw the charming house and the garden courtyard she remembered so well. Zuko's beach house.

How on earth did she get to the Fire Nation?

She stood up and started walking towards the house in confusion, looking for Sokka. His hand-writing meant he had to be close by. She stepped onto the verandah and into the blessedly cool shade, calling out "Sokka," softly.

"Just a minute Katara." he replied from a room further down the hall. She heard his footsteps approach. He turned the corner, arms full of plans and folders, and did an almost comical double-take, while yelling "AAAARRGH" in surprise. He dropped all his papers and stared at her aghast.

Katara had made a similar, horrified noise upon seeing him. He was taller, wider and had an actual hairy beard. He looked so much older, and so much more like their dad that when she'd last seen him only a few hours ago.

"Katara? What the hell happened to you?" He asked, his eyes wide in confusion as he looked her up and down. Katara didn't think there was anything that seriously wrong with her, to warrant the horrified look on his face and his aghast tone. She turned quickly and walked into the house, to the wall where she knew the big mirror was. Sokka followed, spluttering in confusion. Katara stopped in front of the mirror and saw her 16 year old self looking back at her. She was wearing her same blue dress that she'd been wearing at the fortune-tellers. She was the same – he was the one who was different.

"What happened to me? What happened to you? Why are you...old?" She asked equally shocked and confused.

"Why am I old? Why are you young? You look like you're 14 again!" Sokka asked, staring at her like she was the crazy one.

"I'm actually 16." Katara said, a bit offend that he would think she was so young. "Besides you look like your 40!"

Now it was Sokka's turn to make an offended noise. "What the hell! I'm only 21!" he said, indignant. Katara looked at him more closely. It was true, she'd misjudged him. His face was unlined and as cheerful as she remembered, only his nose and cheekbones were a little more chiselled. He probably was in his early twenties.

"Sorry. It's the beard." She said by way of an apology. "It really ages you," She felt compelled to add. It was her duty as a sister.

Sokka huffed and crossed his arms, "Well young one, I really need to talk to 19-year-old Katara... So baby, baby sister, can you just undo whatever waterbending, spirity mumbojumbo you did and poof get my actual sister back." he said.

"I can't" Katara said, slowly a sinking feeling in her heart. "I don't know how." Suddenly she felt very small and lost and so far from home.

"No, seriously Katara, this is a really weird joke." He said in a warning tone.

"It's not a joke!" she said, as she felt a stinging behind her eyes. "I went to a fortune-teller and fell through her teacup and woke up here, and you're old now and I don't know what's happening."

Old Sokka looked at her warily, and started backing away from her really quickly. He poked his head around the corner and yelled "Oi! Suki, Toph – Can you get in here a sec!"

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Huh? Weird – She's not lying." Toph said after Katara had relayed her story, despite much snorting, derision and cross-examination from the peanut gallery. Toph of the future had grown a little, though she was still petite. The biggest difference was that she'd gotten quite curvy. Her wicked grin and truth-sensing ability remained unchanged though. Future Suki maintained her poise and composure. She had sat on the edge of one of the chairs, watching Katara studiously through her clever purple eyes. Her face was mostly impassive, yet attentive, with occasional flashes of concern.

"You believe me now?" Katara huffed, .

"Okay – lets say I believe you – how do we undo this and age you back up?" Sokka asked, getting straight to the point.

"I'd really prefer to age everyone down, if it's all the same for you." Katara retorted, she didn't want to miss out on three more years of her life.

"That's not what we need to do." Suki said slowly, and every pair of eyes rounded on her. " Haven't you lot ever listened to Aang?" Suki asked. There was an awkward silence. "Weren't you listening to her?" Suki continued, sounding slightly frustrated, while gesturing at Katara. "This isn't our Katara. She comes from a totally different world. She was in a Peace-ceremony in Omashu!" Suki said emphatically, like that was the end of her point. She was greeted with blank looks. "We haven't been to the one there yet..." Suki elaborated. Everyone was still looking at Suki blankly, not quite grasping the significance. "If this Katara is from our past, her past should match up with ours. But her past sounds different...This isn't just a younger version of our Katara. This Katara is from some totally other timeline, like another universe..." She finished.

"There are other universes?" Sokka asked, slowly.

"C'mon dude, seriously. Aang was talking about the possibility of different universes just last week..." Suki said fondly.

"So what are you saying? She's a bizzaro Katara from another evil universe, sent here to kill us all?"Sokka supplied, dramatically. "Oh no! She could be from the universe where food eats people!"

"Well, I mean she doesn't seem evil or anything. And I don't think a universe where food eats people exists, but yeah, I think it's likely she's from a different universe." Suki said evenly.

"Are you evil?" Toph asked, rounding on Katara.

"What? No!" Katara said, insulted.

Toph nodded at Sokka and Suki saying "It checks out."

"So, if she's a Bizarro, non-evil Katara, what happened to our Katara?" Sokka asked, sounding worried.

"She's probably in the Bizarro world. They may have switched places. That'd be my guess." Suki said as she looked closely at Katara.

"Well I think we've got to focus on that then. Let's try and get you to switch back baby, baby, baby sister." Sokka said, and clapped his hands together and the prospect of a puzzle. He stroked his chin. "So let me get this straight – an old lady gave you a tea – you felt like you were falling into your cup, and you woke up here?" he asked, sceptical.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened." Katara nodded. It sounded silly when Sokka said it.

"Well, perhaps if we just give you the same tea, in the same cup, at the same table, you'll switch back." Sokka suggested.

It seemed as good a plan as any.

0o0o0o00o0o0o0

Three different blends of tea later, and Katara had stayed stubbornly the same. Sokka was trying to blend the different teas to match her description, but was getting frustrated. They'd been asking her lots of questions about "Bizarro world" and what had happened in before she went to see a fortune-teller. They hadn't seemed very impressed with her answers. She told them about how angry she'd been at Aang, then Toph, how Zuko found her and her decision to see a fortune-teller. Oddly the thing they'd gotten hung up on was the fact that she was dating Aang, not the fact that alternative universes were evidently a thing. Other universes were hand-waved with a shrug and Sokka saying "Meh, weird stuff happens to us a lot."

They'd all groaned "Eeeeeewww" when she'd told them about kissing Aang at the first peace-festival in Ba Sing Se, when he'd been 12. (But they had asked. They just couldn't get their heads around how Katara had even been with Aang). Even Suki had made a grossed out face, and Katara had always thought Suki would be on her side. She got a bit miffed at their judgemental faces.

"We're not trying to be judgemental, but c'mon Katara. He hadn't even hit puberty then!" Suki said, still sounding a little judgemental.

"Yeah, that sounds really gross. No one wanted to sleep with 12 year old Aang." Sokka supplied. She glared at him, and he held his hands up saying. "Sorry. No judgement." However, then he turned and stage-whispered to Suki "I still have some judgement."

"We weren't sleeping together... jeez, what do you take me for!" Katara had retorted, feeling defensive.

"A pervert who makes out with pre-pubesent boys." Toph said snidely and Sokka gave her a sneaky high five. Katara got huffy and demanded the next tea blend – the sooner she could escape this conversation and get back to her own reality the better.

Suki seemed to take pity on her and moved the conversation away from perverts. She asked what she and Sokka were getting up to in the alternative universe, and Katara tried to answer as best she could, but she didn't have many details.

"So you don't get to see us that much, then" Suki observed, as she sipped her tea.

"Not as much and I'd like." Katara answered flatly.

"Okay, do me -what am I up to in freaky-land?" Toph asked. Katara's answers were a little sketchy here, though she knew more about Toph's plan for a cross-bending school, so she could talk about that. Toph nodded along, seeming satisfied. She'd done something similar in this universe, a few years ago. "So is my dad bank-rolling this?" Toph asked mildly.

"Err, I'm not sure where the money's coming from. Probably Iroh though. It wouldn't be your dad." Katara said with certainty.

"Does my dad still want me to expand his merchant empire instead?" She asked casually.

"Err, no. You're still avoiding your parents...a bit." Katara said gently.

Toph sat back, "Huh? That's a bummer for bizarro Me, eh?" she said with a shrug. " Guess bizarro you and bizarro Zuko never stepped in there." Toph said, with a casual wave in Katara's direction.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Well our Katara and Zuko helped me, you know...work through some stuff with my parents." Toph said simply. "Do you know anything else about bizarro me? Am I dating Lee yet?"

Katara had no idea who 'Lee' was, so she felt it was safe to assume no was the answer to that question. But she hadn't sounded certain. She felt three pairs of eyes looking at her quizzically.

"Wow, we really don't hang out that much in freaky-universe, do we?" Toph observed.

"I've been busy with Aang." Katara said, but that made Toph and Sokka hide smiles behind their hands. Suki gave them both a stern look.

"Don't laugh guys, I think it would have been nice for Aang to have someone around to help him track down all the other Airbenders. It's a big job." Suki said in her defence. It was kind of her to try. Katara always knew she could count on Suki to have her back. That was why she felt so bad about having to contradict her.

"We actually haven't found the other Airbenders yet." If they had, things might have been different. If there were other Airbenders in her world, Katara wouldn't feel the terrible burden of having to be Aang's whole family; to love him enough to replace all his people.

Sokka handed her a small cup with his tenth attempt at the tea. She swirled and sipped, and mentally willed herself to disappear from this uncomfortable situation. Sadly for her, nothing changed. She let out a frustrated sigh. Sokka had been watching her with keen interest, but upon this latest failure, he threw his hands up, saying "bugger it, baby baby sister – I don't know what a 'sweet and heady' tea would even be! Can't you tell me anything useful?" grumpily.

"Sorry, ancient, ancient Sokka! I wasn't expecting to be sent to the universe where you're a jerk." Katara shot back.

"Nah, it sounds like everyone in your universe is the jerk." Sokka said, sullenly.

"Well, Zuko'll be home soon. He's always been better at blending teas." Suki cut in, trying to keep the peace.

"Suki, I'd prefer to get this sorted before he gets home." Sokka said urgently, with a quick glance over his shoulder. He lowered his voice even further before saying"Do you really want to be the person who has to say to him - Hey, welcome back buddy – hope you had a real calming breakfast with your Uncle, because we've had such a crazy morning here. Your girlfriend has shrunk, and reverted to her much, much younger self and also is from a bizarro world where she is dating bald kid." Sokka finished dramatically. Suki inhaled sharply.

"Man, he is going to flip his shit!" Toph observed cheerfully, but she didn't seem worried about it. Sokka and Suki, both looked at her in askance. "What? It's always entertaining when he freaks out." She said with a bit smile.

"Toph, can you at least try to pretend you're concerned." Suki said.

"Why worry? Our Katara is tough. She can take care of herself." Toph said confidently, and the others nodded in agreement. "She's probably whipping freaky-land into shape right now. Aang arrives tomorrow and he's good with this spirity-alternate-universe-mumbo-jumbo. He'll fix it in an airbender minute. We'll get our Katara back, and freaky Katara can go back to her lame world and we're golden. In the meantime, hearing Zuko freak out about freak-land is going to be fun." Toph said, like it was the simplest thing.

Suki however, did not share Toph's sanguine view. "How about I go over to Iroh's place and tell him for you honey. I'll break the news tactfully and I'll get them both to come here. Iroh knows heaps about the spirit world. He'd be good with... this sort of thing." Suki said, as she waved in Katara's general direction.

Sokka, grateful for having her take the Zuko-telling burden, smiled at her and said "You're the best!" Suki got up, laced up her sandals and gave Sokka a quick kiss. At door she turned back to them and pointed at Toph and Sokka, saying "Be nice to our guest!" in a warning tone. Katara was sorry to see her go. From the sounds of things, she was the only sensible one on this entire island.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"I'm going out with Zuko in this universe?" Katara asked, turning to Sokka as soon as Suki left. She felt so curious about other Katara's life. She felt a flutter in her stomach. She hadn't felt those butterfly feelings for a long time. They surprised her now. It was almost like she was...a little excited.

"Yeah, since like forever." Toph said.

"No, since a few months after his coronation, so like five years." Sokka said, then looked up as if he was doing some sums in his head."Yeah, definitely around five years" he concluded.

"This is why your freaky-world is so freaky. You two are such a package-deal, I just can't imagine you with Aang." Toph said,

"Yeah! If I were a girl, I'd shag Zuko before Aang any day... Like I'd still do Aang after a few beers, but I'd do Zuko stone-cold-sober." Sokka threw in, like it was a completely normal thing to say. Both Katara and Toph turned to make a face at him.

"Literally no one asked about your man crush on Zuko." Toph said after a moment.

"Hey, don't judge me Toph, judge her" Sokka said, while pointing at Katara. "She kissed a prepubescent 12-year-old."

"Hey don't judge me!" Katara said and gave him a light whack.

"I dunno little Katara. You did sleep with Aang and that seems to make him an arsehole in your world." Toph said dryily.

"We haven't even slept together yet, and Aang's not an arsehole." Katara snapped, defensively.

" You were the one tell us about how he forgot you before a festival... that is a dick move at least." Toph replied.

"I would kick freaky-Aang's arse for how he treats you, to be honest." Sokka said in agreement. He looked at her quizzically, before asking "Why doesn't your me, Bizarre me, do that?" honestly sounding concerned.

"Freaky-universe Sokka is probably also an arsehole." Toph said quickly. Sokka shot her an offended glance.

"I don't see you that much." Katara spoke out in defence of her Sokka. The more she thought about Sokka back home, the more she wondered. He'd never been overjoyed exactly, for her and Aang – and he was the closest person to both of them in the whole world.

"You always go on about how we give you the oogies, and you tease us and say we're a gross couple – but I don't know – it always seemed like you were joking." Katara said uncertainly. She'd always dismissed it as joking, in the past, when Sokka had insinuated that she could do better.

Sokka nodded at that, then asked "What does Dad say?"

"Not much. He's ...look...he thinks it's good that Aang has someone to take care of him." Katara guessed. She was trying to remember if she'd ever had a conversation with Hakoda about Aang, aside from that one on the ship when Aang had run away, during the war.

"Right...our dad would definitely care about Aang's happiness more than your own." Sokka said sarcastically. "Makes sense."

"Well, it's not like Dad in this stupid universe will be over-joyed that this Katara is dating a firebender!" Katara yelled angrily, sick of their judgement and feeling like they were ganging up on her. It was something she had told herself after seeing Zuko kiss Mai. She told herself that it would have never worked out between them anyway, because there was no way her tribe would have ever accepted Zuko – no way her Dad could accept her dating a firebender. It had made her feel less upset at the time.

"Our Dad's cool with it." Sokka said with a shrug, puncturing that illusion with ease. "He's had a soft spot for Zuko since the Boiling Rock." There was a moment of silence, before he added "The one who wasn't pleased was Gran-Gran, at the very start, but she got her revenge."

Toph snorted with laughter, "Oh man, I remember that. She fed him so many salty-shark balls as some kind of obscure water-tribe punishment." Toph chuckled.

"That happened in my universe as well." Katara shared quietly.

Sokka turned and gave her a smile, saying "I'm glad to hear it's not all bad! At least Gran-Gran is still cool in your universe." He said as he got up, going into the house to pick up the papers he'd dropped much earlier that morning when Katara had startled him so badly. They'd lain forgotten until now. Katara bent over to help him.

"What are all these anyway?" She asked, as she held various designs up to the light.

"It's the next stage of your...the other Katara's sanitation project...our sanitation project I guess. I've been designing fountains, plumbing and sewage works for you." he said, sounding a bit taken aback that Katara didn't know about her own project. "Our Katara has been working on ensuring everyone in the world has access to clean water, no matter when they live...she's quite passionate about it. I'm helping." he added, his voice sounding proud.

"We always were a good team." Katara observed, smiling at him – her big, old, currently bearded brother.

"You know how it is. You handle the big ideas, the bending and the emotional and inspiring speeches, and I handle all the practical things and logistics...and do all the actual work" he said with a feigned put-upon sigh, but he was smiling back at her.

Just then Toph came around the corner, an excited look on her face. "Zuko's back!" she said happily.

"Already? Is Suki with him?" Sokka asked, looking out the window. He wasn't in view yet. Toph was relying on her earth-sense. She thought for a moment.

"Nope, he's on his own. He's coming through the mountain path. They probably just missed each other." She said.

"Oh man." Sokka said, and rubbed his hairy beard.

"Looks like you'll have to tell him his girlfriend's de-aged and turned into a pervert after all." Toph piped up after a moment. Then her eyes went wide "...or I could tell him." She suggested cheerfully.

Sokka thought for a moment and then firmly said "I'll tell him." as he walked out the door.

Just then Zuko came around the corner and Katara gasped audibly at how different he looked. She'd never seem him look so healthy and happy...ever. It made such a difference. He was well-muscled instead of thin. There was a soft smile on his face, instead of a worried frown. His shaggy black hair was shorter, wafting in the breeze, rather than pulled back severely. He was taller, again, or maybe he was just holding himself higher. There was an easy confidence about the way he carried himself, all long, strong limbs and sun-tanned skin. Katara felt her breath catch in her throat, and her pulse quicken. She'd always found Zuko handsome, but this universe's Zuko was off-the-charts, ridiculously good-looking.

He looked up and saw Sokka coming towards him, and smiled and waved in greeting. Sokka rushed over. Katara could see very emphatic gestures from Sokka, Zuko's smile fell abruptly and was replaced with a confused frown, then wide-eyed worry. Katara could only hear fragments of Sokka's explanation. "This thing happened... a universe where food eats people...no really...weird alternative universes...maybe a couple of years behind our universe because people are younger there... We're pretty sure it's not an evil doppelganger situation... don't freak out but..."

"IS KATARA OKAY!?" Zuko suddenly yelled, probably loud enough to be heard the next town over. He turned and sprinted towards the door at full pelt, flung it open and burst into the room. Suddenly they were face to face. Future Zuko just stared at her, his gold eyes full of distress and bewilderment. He regarded her for a long moment, before just as abruptly as he entered, he turned back to Sokka in the courtyard.

There was more frantic gesturing now, as Zuko shouted every variation on the fuck possible. "What the fuck? What the actual fuck? Why the fuck? How the fuck? When the fuck? I've only been gone for two hours. What the fuck happened this morning? Who the fuck is that?"

Sokka had been nodding along to the barrage of questions and making noises of agreement about the general weirdness of everything, but here he slipped in "We think it's still Katara. But Katara from another universe." he explained, before looking over his shoulder at Katara as she came out into the courtyard. "Oh no, she looks pissed."

Katara had strode into the courtyard, hands on her hips. Toph trailing behind her. This was an uncomfortable, weird and perplexing situation for everyone, but she didn't think it warranted this level of freaking out and swearing about her. Sure Sokka had shrieked when he first saw her, but then he'd been helpful and cooperative. This universe's Zuko showed no signs of calming down and it was annoying Katara. One of the only things that was stopping her from completely freaking out herself was how calm the older Sokka, Suki and Toph had been.

"In my universe, we normally say hello first." She said sharply.

The boys turned and looked and her, and Sokka urged "Okay buddy, one of us has to stop swearing and say hi to Alternate Universe Katara." in a stage whisper.

"Before her clone army invades and kills us all." Toph chimed in.

"She's got a clone army?" Zuko turned to ask Sokka.

"I do not have a clone army!" Katara said, indignant.

Future Zuko turned back to her, and looked her directly in the eye. "Where's Katara?" he asked slowly, a dangerous edge to his tone.

"I'm Katara!" Katara fired back.

"No. You're not my Katara. Where is she?" He was getting impatient, angry.

"Yeah, well you're not my usual Zuko, but I'm not freaking out at you, am I?" She responded crossly. Sure, she understood he was worried, but that was no reason for him to be so hostile to her. She hadn't asked to be dropped into this universe.

"oh goodie! The evil doppelganger's not freaking out, so every thing's fine." he said sarcastically.

"I'm not an evil doppelganger! Maybe you lot are the evil doppelgangers!" Katara pointed at them. Toph and Sokka glanced at eachother, as if to check for stray evilness.

Zuko turned away from her, frustrated. "I don't freaking believe this... What is even happening?" he said mostly to himself, while running his hands through his hair somewhat violently.

"I'll see if I can figure that out Nephew." Iroh's voice puffed from the door. He was a bit red in the face and out of breath, Suki hovering behind him. They'd probably heard Zuko shouting all the way from Iroh's house.

"Young lady, could you tell me what happened?" Iroh asked wheezily, and Katara groaned inwardly. Another person to explain herself to. "Only tell me in a little moment, I think I really need a sit down...Some tea would be nice Zuko" Iroh continued with a wry grin towards his nephew.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A little while later, they were sitting around the tea-table while Katara retold her story (she only told it from the day of the Omashu – She'd learnt her lesson from last time). Nearly everyone was sitting and listening, except for Zuko, who was pacing around the courtyard frequently, like a grumpy tigerdillo. Iroh listened with fascination to her tale, and seemingly without judgement at all, even with the frequent, disparaging interjections from Toph about how everyone in her universe was an arsehole.

"This is is astounding. Suki, clever girl! I do believe you are correct. This Katara is from another universe." Iroh smiled at Suki as he said this.

"I can't believe you actually believe her." Zuko snorted from where he was currently pacing, behind his uncle.

"There are more things in the spirit-world and the earth, than are dreamed of in your philosophy, Zuko." Iroh observed mildly, before lowering his voice seriously. "You should know, many years ago the spirits granted me visions of the future - of different outcomes for the great war. I was able to visit with the people in those other futures, much like our young friend is visiting us here."

"Really?" Zuko asked, coming to sit beside his Uncle, clearly interested, despite himself.

Uncle turned to him and said very quietly "One day, when you are very old man, you may meet a rather impertinent traveller, who will remind you a great deal of your dear old Uncle. He may ask you some questions..." he let that hang in the air for a moment. "Be kind to him, be honest with him...for he only ever wants to help you." Iroh laid his hand very gently over Zuko's as he said this. Zuko nodded slowly and held his uncle's gaze for a long, solemn moment.

"You know what may help me understand the nature of this – lemon cakes!" Uncle Iroh said brightly, breaking the solemn moment. "Zuko, will you get some?"

"How will lemon cakes help?" Katara asked in confusion, after Zuko had gotten up.

"They wont." Iroh said with a downright mischievous grin for such and old, wise man. "I just really feel like one." Katara had always liked Iroh. "Besides, I think he needs a moment." Iroh said, with a quick nod after his nephew, before holding out his hands to her. "If you'll permit me" he asked, gesturing for Katara to place her hands in his. He held her hands, thinking, for what seemed like an interminably long period. The longer it went on, the more nervous Katara became.

"Ah, interesting... The spirits are at work here." Iroh remarked pleasantly after the ridiculously long moment.

"What does that mean?" Zuko asked as he came back, placing some lemon cakes in front of his Uncle, however he did not sit back down.

"Patience, Zuko" Iroh said, as he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. "Ahh, yes...mmm interesting..." he said benignly.

"What?" Katara asked, still feeling anxious.

"Katara from our world is completely fine." Iroh said first, and everyone visibly sighed with relief, none more loudly than Zuko, who sat back down, leaning his head on his hand. "This young woman is just momentarily visiting us. Soon she will return to her home, and our Katara will return to us." he explained.

"How long will it take?" Sokka asked.

"A few days I would guess." Iroh said.

"A few DAYS!?" Zuko exploded next to him.

"It is only a short visit." Iroh said.

"A few days is not a short visit Uncle! 'oh I just popped over for a quick cup of tea' is a short visit!" Zuko huffed crossly.

"Zuko, getting angry will not bring our Katara back any faster." Iroh said sternly. "No, there is a force at work here. It does not appear to want to harm any of us. I think that, like my younger self gained wisdom from the universes I visited, - this Katara must need to learn something from this world. When she knows it, she'll be able to return."

"What does it want her to know?" Zuko asked his Uncle quickly, before rounding towards Katara "What do you need to know?" he asked urgently.

"I don't know what I need to know." Katara huffed, a little exasperated with him.

"Mmmmhh, well perhaps we can tell you of our universe, and you can see where the differences are. Wisdom can often come from seeing what others are doing differently." Iroh suggested, while he poured a fresh cup of tea for everyone. "Besides, conversation with a visitor from another universe is one of life's truly rare delights."

o0o0o0o0o0o

She'd asked about Aang first, because it did seem a bit weird to her, that he wasn't here when everyone else was. She was worried that not dating Aang in this universe somehow meant that he was the one excluded now. The others assured her that Aang was coming tomorrow, but he was spending the first week of the holidays getting to know Ty Lee's family, the next island over. Ty Lee had been the first untrained bender Aang had found, and they'd been practically inseparable since he started training her. This year they had been fixing up the western Air Temple and teaching some other untrained benders there.

3 years in the future and Aang had found other airbenders? It made Katara's heart soar with hope. Katara was eager to know about how Aang had found the new airbenders. This was something useful she could take back to her own universe, where Aang's loneliness and sadness about being the last of his kind was palpable.

The others explained that he'd gone to see Guru Pathik again, not long after the war had ended. There he'd had vision of other airbenders, untrained, but still out in the world. Ty Lee had been the only one he had recognised, so he'd started with training her. Ty Lee had been delighted when Aang told her. Suki said she'd always wanted to stand out, but Zuko thought she was also glad that she didn't feel so freakish any more, now that she knew why she could do all the weird things she'd been able to do as a kid.

Having a big holiday at the beach house every year had actually been Aang's idea in this universe. He didn't want to focus so much on his Avatar duties, and restoring the airbenders that he ended up neglecting his friends. He always made an effort to see them during the year, but since the end of the war – he'd made a point of getting everyone to the beach house in the summer around the anniversary of Sozin's comet.

Toph started laughing as she retold how Aang just started inviting everyone to the house, like he owned the place and Zuko's confusion about getting an invitation to his own house that first year. "You just kept saying 'But it's my own house? Can he just invite me to my own house?' Toph said, doing a decent mimic of Zuko's voice. Sokka pointed out that Zuko hadn't been complaining when Aang gave him all his presents. Apparently Aang got lots of tributes for being the Avatar, but because Air-nomads aren't into material possessions, he'd started re-gifting everything to his friends during these beach holidays. Aang told them it was to say thank you, for everything they'd done for him, and to share the glory a bit. Toph thought it was just so he could unload all the shit he didn't want.

Katara absorbed all this wordlessly. This Aang, he just sounded so different from the Aang she knew, she couldn't quite get the picture to form in her mind. This universe's Aang really seemed to appreciate these people. He cared for them, he listened to them, he took time away from the temples especially to see them – not just because his duties brought him nearby. Katara thought Aang would never put anything above the Airbenders and their temples, or that he would ever worry about neglecting his friends.

Sokka and Suki were living in the newly named Republic City, (formerly Two Rivers colony). It was a free and independent city, controlled by neither the Earth King or Zuko. It was governed by a group with a representative from each nation, of which Sokka was the youngest (Piandao was the oldest, and Sokka spoke about at length about how cool working with him was, how they sparred with their swords after work sometimes and how awesome that was... until Toph started teasing him about his man-crush on Piandao.) Suki was captain of the peace keeping force in the city. The Katara from this universe visited them with Zuko frequently.

Their Katara had gotten impassioned about the squalor in the eastern part of the city. The city had grown so rapidly, and a slum had formed in the eastern sector. She installed many drinking fountains there, creating springs with her bending, to give those citizens access to fresh water. The very last fountain she'd created had been the biggest, shaped as an enormous statue of herself. The way Suki was talking gave Katara the impression that this world's Katara had been gently teased about building an enormous statue of herself – but she'd had the last laugh, obviously. Most of Sokka's designs for the next series of fountains featured statues of Katara.

Toph sometimes lived with them in the city too, when she wasn't visiting her parents or staying with Zuko. She oversaw a cross-bending school. She was excited, because her students were starting to form teams and have competitions that were really similar to earth rumbles. Toph was selling tickets and collecting a tidy profit. The matches were very popular, even if they were currently not permitted inside the city limits– she said with a waggle of her eyebrows at Sokka and Suki.

Suki told Toph that the city had to have bigger priorities than building her a big stadium so that a bunch of dudes could throw rocks at each other, and that she was worried about discrimination against non-benders in the current set-up. Suki and Toph started speaking quite animatedly about this. Katara was fascinated by the friendly banter. Even though they disagreed, there was no hard feelings between Suki and Toph. If Katara had disagreed with Aang, she would have never been able to tell him as directly – not the way Suki told Toph that a sport that only allowed benders couldn't call itself "inclusive" just because it mixed up the bending styles. This Toph was much more grown-up when receiving criticism. She took Suki's words on board with good humour. They were discussing the merits of allowing non-benders who'd been trained in chi-blocking to compete, when Zuko coughed really loudly and said "Look, can you two talk about that another time. I don't think it's helping us get the real Katara back." he said as he pointed at her.

"What about you? You haven't told me anything about yourself." Katara said pertly. Zuko'd been mostly quiet since the others started talking. He'd barely looked at her the whole time and it was starting to bother Katara. She stared him down, but he still didn't look at her. Zuko said he wasn't sure what to say. He was Firelord and trying his best at it. The others interjected here to say how great he was doing, how much he'd turned the Fire-Nation around. He smiled into his cup at their praise, and thanked them softly, but said he couldn't take all the credit. "You helped so much." he said looking directly at her for the first time, with such a softness in his gaze, before catching himself. He looked away quickly, adding "I mean our you. The real Katara." Katara felt a little hurt by the way he kept saying 'the real Katara.'

She asked what the 'Real Katara' had done that was so special.

"Straight after the war, we had big problems; without some of the colonies, we couldn't produce enough food to feed everyone here. My father's factories had destroyed the rivers' ecosystems, so fishing often wasn't an option inland, and the pollution was causing all these illnesses. On top of that we had all these returned soldiers who were unemployed and the capital was so overcrowded, and there was civilian unrest everywhere. On top of that, we had to pay all these reparations to the other nations...

"Okay, that first year was bad – we get it." Toph said, interrupting what Katara assumed was a long list of problems. "Trust me, you do not want to get him started on how crap his first year as Firelord was." Toph stage whispered to Katara. "I was there for it the first time through!"

Zuko glared at her, then continued. "Anyway, Toph was living with me that first year, and she was totally useless, just lazing about my palace and bitching about how her parents didn't understand her."...

"Oi, I made sure none of your staff were going to kill you..."She interjected.

"And it was so annoying, listening to her complain endlessly about her dad, and her mum and how sad her fancy childhood was because she had to wear fancy dresses, and she was always nagging me to take her on life-changing adventures ..." Toph picked up a small biscuit at threw it at him. He reciprocated with his own biscuit, and it was about to erupt into a full on biscuit war at the tea-table – until Iroh pointed out that if they knocked over his prize blend of tea, he would be disappointed in them both.

"Sorry Uncle." they both said in unison, and put down their biscuits.

"You were saying about how the Fire Nation had all these problems." Katara prompted, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Well, yeah – things were bad. But then Katara – the Real Katara – came. She took me around the countryside, when she was cleaning the rivers, and some of those villages were just in a shocking state. Katara just wanted to help people, and she didn't mind that they were Fire Nation. She wanted to fix the rivers, and heal all the sick people and make sure all the villages had access to fresh water, because the polluted water was causing heaps of illness. She was trying to do it all with her bending, but the towns would need a water supply after we left and Sokka suggested fountains, so we converted one of the bigger factories to make pipes for the project..."

"You converted other factories as well. You know all the adjustments I made to the airships' designs -There's that one factory that's making my airships for passenger travel." Sokka interjected, a little boastfully.

"Well, yeah there's that one."

"And you know how I invented the su.."Sokka interjected again.

"Oi, it's my turn. You've all had your go!" Zuko said pointing at Sokka and then Toph. "Anyway, pipes was first. Then the real Katara pointed out that with better sanitation, the towns could support more people, then we realised we could expand terrace farming methods, to make the most of the steep land in the mountains...Anyway, that was a real turning point. People seemed to get used to having me as Firelord, after I went all over the Fire Nation with the Real Katara trying to fix up the towns... They thought it showed I was better than my Dad, at least." he added quietly. He seemed finished, and he gestured for Sokka to have his go.

"So, baby Katara, you haven't heard about all my inventions yet!" Sokka said excitedly.

"No, Sokka! NO. You talking about your inventions is even more boring that Zuko moaning about the woes of the Fire Nation." Toph groaned, but that did not discourage Sokka in the slightest.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sokka talked a lot more. Zuko, Suki and Uncle got up and some point, and brought out some lunch. Zuko didn't come and sit back down, but said he wasn't hungry and was going to have a walk. Meanwhile, Sokka continued talking about his inventions, their projects for Republic City, about their family in this universe, about how they went back to the South Pole every-year for the days of darkness festival and sometimes for the summer fishing season, about what everyone in the tribe was getting up to, how she had convinced Pakku to train the female water-benders, and did lessons on 'southern style' whenever she went back – however because she was the only southern waterbender, Sokka just thought she should name it "Katara style" and be done with it. Bato was sure his baby girls were both benders, and he wanted them both to be well-versed in Katara-style. They'd had an exceptionally large haul of fish last year. Pakku had added a canal network... but eventually even Sokka ran out of things to say.

"Do you feel like you know enough yet?" He asked, after he'd exhausted everything he could think to talk about.

"Well, no, because I am still here." Katara said, pointing out the obvious.

"I don't know what else we can tell you little Katara." Suki said sadly.

"This is hopeless. We should just get Aang to come now and fix this." Zuko called from where he was leaning against the doorway, pointing at Katara. She felt a little startled, because she hadn't even noticed him come back. How long had he been there brooding?

"I already hawked him from your Uncle's place – but he can't make it until tomorrow." Suki said.

"What? Why!" Zuko asked loudly, coming in to the courtyard again.

"Ty Lee's sister wrote back when you were on your walk, and said that they'd gone to ride the giant dolphin-squid near turquoise bay, but had planned to come straight here tomorrow morning."

"I know where that is. I could take one of the steamers and get him." Zuko replied.

"No Aang." Katara heard herself say softly.

"He's only a few islands away. I'd be back with him before dark." Zuko said, as he turned to go.

"No Aang." she felt herself repeat, more firmly. Everybody stopped and looked at her. A long silence stretched out. "I don't want to see Aang right now... okay." she said softly.

"No. That's not okay." Zuko said crossly, coming to stand over her.

"Zuko.." Iroh started to say, but Zuko waved him off. He glared down at her and said "I don't care if you've got problems with Aang in your stupid universe. Big deal! I think we've indulged you enough." he said furiously.

Katara stood up and whirl around to face him angrily. "You've indulged me? - You've done nothing but be rude to me!" she fired back.

"Well I need the real Katara back!" he yelled back, a desperate note in his voice.

"Well what about what I need eh? Your Uncle says I need to learn something here and I can't go home until I do. How can I learn whatever it is with you shouting at me and stomping about and being so mean!" She gave him a big poke in the chest and he took a step back.

"I'm not being mean" he said defensively.

"You called me an evil doppelganger this morning, you wont even look me in the eye, you've been shouting at me and you're talking about me like I'm not even real." Katara listed on her fingers. "You know what – whatever it is I have to find out, I obviously can't learn around you!" she huffed before turning on her heels and stomping off.

o0o0o0o0o0o0

She stomped through the lush greenery behind the beach house, thwacking bushes as she went. Stupid, good-looking Zuko. He was really getting under her skin; the way he'd barely make eye-contact with her or spoke to her. If the others hadn't been there – he would have probably just outright ignored her. He was being so rude! The way he shouted at her – like it was all her fault that his oh-so-precious-real-Katara had vanished. She hated the way he always made sure to say "the real Katara". What was she then? Just a random bit of driftwood? As if she needed his constant reminders that this wasn't her world and she didn't belong here.

She knew she didn't belong. She knew this was real Katara's world.

It may have only been three years in the future, but it felt like an entirely different planet. Real Katara was stupidly lucky. She was living the life Katara had always wanted. She was changing the world for the better. She wasn't ever left out of anything. She'd kept her inner fire, that energy that drove her to say things like I'll never turn my back on people who need me and mean them.

She never had to chose between her boyfriend's needs and what she really wanted to do herself. She and Aang had never dated in this universe. Real Katara never had to carry the burden of having to be everything to Aang, all by herself. This Aang had found other airbenders. This Aang had reached out to his other friends. Their group had stayed together. At home, every one in the Gaang was so fractured. She felt like they had all split off in different directions. They didn't make time for each other in her universe – not the way they did here. They'd never had a big summer reunion holiday, much less made it an annual thing.

Everyone seemed so happy here. Even when they were arguing and teasing each other, there were no hard, brittle edges hidden beneath the surface. And they way they talked about their Katara made something inside her ache. Oh, how they loved "real Katara". They loved her so much. She could hear it when they spoke.

Katara was jealous – and she knew it was nuts to be jealous of herself, but there it was. In her heart if hearts, she knew that she liked this world much better than her own. But the people here, they just wanted her gone and their real "Katara back". She wasn't ready to be sent back to her own world, where everything was messed up and she felt lost and alone.

She'd walked through the forest to the little beach around the corner from the house and sat down, running her fingers through the sand and feeling sorry for herself. She knew she couldn't stay, but she also knew she wasn't ready to see Aang. If he was so happy and wonderful in this world, did that mean the problem was her? Did she make him the way he was in her universe?

It wasn't that Aang was bad, or mean or unkind...he was just thoughtless, he didn't see or think about consequences for other people. He was too focused on what he wanted – but what he wanted shifted with the breeze. She'd always tried to give him what he wanted, including herself. She thought it would help him. But always getting his own way hadn't helped him at all. Gentle nudges hadn't pushed him in the right direction.

She wasn't sure how long she sat like that, lost in thought. She didn't even hear Zuko walking up sometime later."Hey." Zuko said from behind her, standing a little way off.

"Hey." Katara sniffed, while shifting her body away. She didn't want to talk to this Zuko now. She was sure he was about to make her feel worse.

"Look, I just wanted to say sorry. I was a jerk before." He said.

"Yeah, you were." Katara snorted. She knew she was being immature, when he'd taken the first step and apologised. She heard him huff, and mutter something like 'frozen hell, you really are 16' under his breath.

There was a long moment before he took a step closer." Uncle says that you probably have many burdens….I'm sorry if I belittled them, and I'm also sorry for shouting at you. That wasn't cool...also I'm sorry for breaking your bizarre world tea-cup." he added a little shamefaced.

"Wait, that tea-cup wasn't mine." Katara said quickly.

"oh, well then, err pass on my apologies." He said.

"How did you even break it?" Katara couldn't help but ask.

"I was trying to open a portal to your lame universe... It did not work." he explained, with a hopeless sort of shrug.

Katara wasn't sure how to say that she forgave him; that she wasn't really angry at him, she was mostly angry at herself. She settled for nodding and patting the sand beside her and motioning for him to sit down. He sat next to her in silence for a few moments, and they watched the waves crash on the white sand of the beach. The water was a clear and brilliant blue here, stretching out endlessly in front of her. Behind her was the lush rainforest, teeming with life and echoing with birdsongs.

She sighed. She'd forgotten how beautiful the Fire Nation out be.

After a long moment, Zuko cleared his throat " Listen, err little Katara..." he said, using the name Suki had taken to calling her. It was much nicer than freak-world Katara or Bizarro Katara at least. "I get that you're angry at your lame universe's Aang...but our Aang is actually really nice. He's a great guy, you know."

"Maybe your Aang is so great, but my Aang is still... " She interjected, but then couldn't even finish her own thought. She'd been thinking about this just before Zuko'd got here. What was her Aang really? He loved her, she knew, but the same way a kid loves desserts. He only wanted the sweet parts of her. Whenever she was angry, he avoided her, or he treated her like she was a book that he could write some temple wisdom in. He never heard her. She was a book that entertained him sometimes, but one that he could put down and walk away from, when he got bored or he got tired.

"He's what? Young? Immature? Flighty? Gassy?" Zuko started guessing.

"He's not gassy!" Katara snapped. They were quiet for a moment before she confessed softly "I'm not ready to go back."

"But what about me and the real Katara?...We were going to go the glowy cave thing she likes tonight! We had a date!" Zuko said quickly.

She felt her lip curl up and a lump form in her throat. There it was, the ghost of the "Real Katara" again, this girl she wanted to be so badly.

" ...Sorry. You are real too – you're just...you're not my Katara." He corrected, seeing that she was getting upset. She nodded. They were quiet again for a moment. "I mean you look like her, and sound like her from when she was 16, but that was three years ago... and this is just so weird!" He flopped back on the sand dramatically, covering his face with his large hands, sounding so frustrated and anxious. She felt sorry for him then. This must have been so hard for him, seeing the person he loved changed into her younger self, with no memory of her relationship with him. All his harshness earlier, it was just because he loved his Katara.

"Look, she'll be fine, your Katara... No one in my universe would hurt her. She's okay. Besides, everyone says she's so tough." Katara said kindly, trying to reassure him.

"I know she can take car of herself, but..." he said, taking his hands away from his face and sitting back up. "...I'm worried." he added, after a moment, digging his fingers in the sand around his ankles. "I miss her." He whispered, mostly to his own bare feet. Katara didn't know what to say to that.

"Can you tell me how to swap places with your world's Zuko - like you did to come here?" He asked abruptly, turning to face her.

"Why would you want to go to my universe?" She asked a bit confused. "Everyone says it sucks there."

"I don't care if your universe is full of angry, feral spider-snakes, as long as I'm there with her." he said insistently looking straight at her, his gold eyes catching the sunlight. Oh, it made her feel things in her belly, looking into his eyes like that – those same butterflies from before - but she knew those eyes weren't for her. They were for this other, luckier, better Katara. The real one.

He meant it, every word, she could tell. He wouldn't have cared about spider-snakes, or danger, or anything, as long as he was with the real Katara. She was taken aback by his devotion. It broke her heart a little to have to whisper "I don't know how. I'm sorry."

He turned away from her again harshly, as if he was so disappointed in her he couldn't bear to look at her, as if he blamed her completely. "You think I'm doing this on purpose... but I'm not. This isn't my fault!" she said, her voice heavy with emotion. Not long ago, she was furious with this Zuko, but now it seemed like the worst thing in the world that he was sad and angry and blaming her.

It wasn't her fault. She hadn't asked to dropped into this shiny happy universe. This place existed just to rub her face in how sad and alone she felt at home, she was sure of it. She was alone here too, really. These were not her people, not really. In whatever universe, she'd feel alone. Katara felt a lump rise in her throat and a traitorous tear slip out.

"This isn't easy for me either! I'm all alone here and there's no one on my side." She snapped, trying to seem angry, to no avail. Her voice cracked, more tears welled in her eyes. "….no one is ever on my side." She finished with a wail. She gave into the great tide of misery and anxiety that had been welling in her all day. She felt sobs wracking her shoulders, and she knew stupidly hot Zuko was looking at her in horror, but she couldn't make herself stop crying.

"Oh no...err, stop that..." He started to say, sounding ridiculously alarmed. "….No, don't do that...don't cry... c'mon now. It's not so bad." he continued, only a moment before warm, strong arms pulled her into a hug. Then she really began to haul off. She let it out; all her misery from the past two years, all those feelings she pushed down – they were all coming out of her now in a great tide of emotion. Zuko held her tighter, one arm was around her waist, his other hand was smoothing her hair back. He was murmuring things like he was sorry and he hadn't meant to make her cry.

She could feel his lightning scar, through the thin fabric of his shirt, where her hands had gotten smushed against his chest. She buried her face into the crook of his neck. He smelled of soap, and something else she'd never been able to put her finger on; something smoky and spicy. Just like Zuko back home. This universe's Zuko was older, and healthier but he still smelled the same. He had the same quick temper, the same energy and warmth, the same awkward kindness. Perhaps they were not so different after all. He held her until her sobs had become small little hiccups. She wasn't even surprised when he dug a handkerchief out of a pocket and handed it to her, when her crying had subsided.

She felt an eerie calm descend on her as she hugged a knee into her chest, like the feeling in the air after thunderstorms. She felt like she was physically pulling herself together. She untangled herself from Zuko and started to wipe her face vigorously. It was at that moment that she felt a big wave of embarrassment hit her. She'd just cried all over him. She hadn't done that since the southern raiders. What must he be thinking?

"I just want you to know that I wasn't crying about you. It was other things." She said with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Is it so terrible in your universe? " He asked quietly, after a moment, having a guess at what was making her so upset.

"No... I mean it's not full of feral spider-snakes at least." She said, trying for a weak joke. But it was true. Home wasn't so bad really, all things considered. The war was still over, the nations were still working towards peace, even if it seemed like that was a slower process than here. Everyone that really mattered to her had survived the final battle. She should count her blessings for that. She tried to put into words what was really troubling her.

"You'd do anything to get your Katara back, but no one in my universe will even notice that much if I'm gone." She said after a moment.

"I'm sure that's not true. Everyone loves you." He replied easily.

"I don't know." She shrugged. She'd pushed them all away. She felt a flush of shame at how rarely she saw them, how she barely answered their messages, how she'd spoken to Toph, who only wanted to cheer her up and spend time with her. Toph who had tried to include her and instead received a metaphorical slap in the face. She couldn't blame them for not being there for her more.

"I'm lonely, back home." She confessed, softly.

"Perhaps it's a good thing I can't get to your lame universe then." Zuko muttered. "I never liked seeing you sad...How does the other Zuko stand it?" he said mostly to himself. His eyes narrowed in thought for a moment. "Surely it's not so bad though? Even when I was an angry- banished-pain-in-the-arse, I still had my Uncle. I felt so lonely, but Uncle was right there the entire time."

"What are you saying?" Katara asked.

" I know your family. They can't have changed that much. You might feel like you're alone in your universe, but you'd have them. You'd have Sokka, and your Dad, and your Gran Gran" he said with certainty. " – frozen hell, no one would ever mess with your Gran Gran when it comes to you." he added with a rueful shake of his head.

" I heard she wasn't a big fan of yours." Katara said and nudged him.

"She's just protective. Lets just say it took her a long time to warm to me." Zuko said with a little smile. They were silent for a moment.

"You'd still have me too." He added with equal certainty as when he'd been talking about her family.

"I mean...your universes' version of me" he added, to clarify. Then his eyes widened in horror, as he seemed to realise something "...unless? Did I die?"

"No, you didn't die." Katara said, chuckling despite herself at his dismayed face. He seemed so aghast at the idea. He turned to her and gave her a curious look and little shrug with his palms held upwards, as if to say 'why then?'

"You're not an option for me." She said firmly.

He actually snorted in response and said "Please, I'd always be an option for you." with a licentious little nod and a wink. Was he flirting with her? She gave him a weird look in response, one eyebrow raised in confusion and he seemed to realise who exactly he was speaking to. "I didn't mean that to sound so sleazy." He said after a beat. Katara couldn't help but smile as he went a little red with embarrassment.

"but you know, unless I was dead, I'd be there to cheer you up, especially if you're are so sad in your universe... I mean, you saved my life" He said firmly. "...that still happened didn't it?"

Katara nodded.

"Well then." he said, and shrugged, like it was simple and her problem was solved.

"Well, you wanted to 'cheer up' someone else instead of me." Katara said tartly.

"Really, who?" he said with genuine bafflement.

"Mai." She spat, feeling her lip curl. She'd never like that girl.

He laughed. He laughed as if this was the most ridiculously thing anyone had ever said to him. He looked at her like he couldn't quite believe her, but Katara was the one who couldn't believe his reaction. She had never, ever seen Zuko laugh like that – all carefree and easy. She didn't even know he could laugh like that – head back and with no shadows behind his eyes. It only made him look more handsome, which annoyed Katara greatly. Hot, laughing bastard she thought grumpily. He shouldn't be so good-looking when she was thinking about how he had made out with another girl.

"It was your coronation, and you were still hurt and I wanted to help. I came to find you, and I walked in on you and Mai...sucking face.." She couldn't keep the disgust from her voice. "And I thought..." She couldn't finish that thought. Couldn't put into words how much that moment had hurt her. "Anyway. I got together with Aang not long after."

Zuko nodded and looked at her thoughtfully, before saying "Katara, you know I was like a...a dry love sponge back then." like that explained everything. Now it was Katara's turn to look at him in bafflement.

"Hey – those are your words, not mine!" he said, pointing at her, conflating her with the Katara of this world. However 'little Katara' had no idea what a dry love sponge was. She hoped it wasn't too sexual – she didn't want to hear those kinds of details about her other self and Zuko.

"16-year-old me needed lots of loving." He explained, but that only made Katara raise her eyebrows further. "No, not in a tawdry, slutty way." he admonished, as though she was the one saying weirdly sexual things.

"Just... you know what things were like for me...no one had ever shown me much affection." He paused, in thought. "I mean... I didn't get much... much love... growing up..."his voice trailed off. It was the first time he'd sounded genuinely hesitant. He looked down at his hands, which had been making patterns in the sand. "Anyway, you noticed that whenever anyone did show me any affection, I would be 'a bit weird' about it, but I'd also just been so keen for it..I'd absorb it...like a sponge. I would be right in there..." He gave her a rueful little shrug here, before adding. "Honestly, 16 year-old-Zuko made out with anyone who wanted to kiss him. If it had been you walking through the door first, instead of Mai, I probably would have been making out with you."

"So what your saying is..." Katara began slowly, feeling a smile creep over her face "that you're easy?"

He gave an exaggerated huff and flopped back on the sand again. "Why are you making everything I say sound so tawdry." Katara couldn't stop the bubble of laughter that burst out of her then. She smiled gently down at him. He always was so dramatic.

"So you didn't care about me or Mai at all then. The girl you kissed that day could have been anyone. If the cleaning maid had walked in, you would have made out with her?" Katara continued, enjoying this. Zuko flicked some sand at her, and Katara gave a delighted little squeal as she tried to ward it off and smiled down at him. He returned her smile, and sat back up.

"It's weird though, imagining there's some bizarro universe where I'm still with Mai...couldn't ever believe it would last between us." He observed after a moment.

"Well actually, it ends when she tries to kill you, or her dad tries to kill you or something."

"Bummer." he said with real nonchalance.

"What's Mai doing here?" Katara couldn't help but ask.

"Not trying to kill me." Zuko replied. "She's good. She's a bounty hunter in the Earth Kingdom. We saw her a couple of months ago at Ty Lee's. She's got some wicked tats that thankfully don't say shut up Zuko." he said with a grin. Katara could tell there was a story there.

" Well, she was really mad about me forgetting her in prison, which is suppose is understandable." Katara nodded in agreement and Zuko continued his explanation. "She used to have this paper fan and she'd written on it in beautiful calligraphy Shut up Zuko, nobody cares what you think! Then during my coronation and few other official functions afterwards – she was really sly, and she would shake it open. Then hold it up, for a split second in my eye line, whenever I was talking. Just to mess with me." he smiled widely, as if this was funny to him.

"She sounds as charming as ever." Katara snapped disdainfully. Zuko seemed remarkably carefree about her being so mean.

"She's alright. She was just hurt, I guess. People do all kinds of weird stuff when they're hurt." He was trying to assuage Katara's anger.

"Mai came to see me one day, about a month afterwards. She told me she was going to be a bounty hunter in the Earth Kingdom, and she wasn't angry at me any more. She let me set fire to her shut up Zuko fan, but then she joked that her first tattoo was going to say shut up Zuko if I was an idiot and ruined the Fire Nation." he finished.

"So you passed? The not-an-idiot test?" Katara asked sweetly, but with false surprise. He flicked some sand at her again as she giggled and ducked. He was so serious, she couldn't help but enjoy gently teasing him.

"What was her first tattoo then?" She asked nicely after a pause, genuinely curious.

"She got a tigerdillo, on her shoulder. She got it done with Ty Lee, when Ty Lee got her airbending tattoos. Ty Lee gets really freaked out about needles, so Mai went with her to hold her hand." he said calmly, like Mai was someone he liked and approved of; as if thinking of her didn't make him sad.

It was weird. She disliked Mai intently, and yet here was her ex-boyfriend talking about her like she was someone nice – after everything she'd done! Then again, this Mai had never got back together with this Zuko after Sozin comet – she hadn't done the terrible things Katara knew about. This world's Mai... she didn't sound too bad, Katara had to admit to herself. Not being with Zuko had obviously made her a better person.

"You're friends now." Katara observed.

Though it wasn't a question, Zuko answered any way. "Yeah, I mean, not close friends – not like I am with everyone else, but yeah. If we see each other, we catch up. There's no hard feelings."

"How are you even friends after breaking up?" Katara asked quietly. She'd never really considered the possibility that two people could fight, break up, but then come to a happier place where they could still be friends.

"We were just dumb kids. We weren't good together, and we both knew it. She would have hated being my girlfriend after I became Firelord, you know. She'd have been bored stiff. We're better as friends." he said, looking at her curiously.

"Do you think Aang and I would be on good terms if we broke up?" She asked, softly. It was her real question. She'd always thought that if she broke up with Aang, it would just destroy him. He needed her so much, and she couldn't bear the thought of him being alone and sad, especially if she could help him. She had assumed that if she did break up with Aang, he would just never get over it. He'd be too upset to even preform his duties as an Avatar, and the world was still rebuilding itself from 100 years war – her world needed the avatar.

Or worse. He always used to say he'd go into the avatar state if she ever left him. She knew he couldn't control his avatar state properly, no matter how much he tried to hide it from her. It sent a shudder down her spine just thinking of it. She hated seeing him lose control like that, when he was so full of pain and rage. Then again...there had been other times when he had lost his temper with her, and that had been frightening enough even without the Avatar State. He had been so mad when she didn't immediately return his feelings after the invasion. I'll show you fire, she remembered him saying, before rocks exploded everywhere. It had scared her, a little bit, when he did that.

Would it even be possible for her and Aang to break up and then come to the place where they could be friends again? Could they break up and eventually be able to talk about each other with the gentle good-humour and affection that this Zuko clearly had for this Mai.

"I don't know...your Aang sounds different from our Aang." Zuko said slowly, choosing his words carefully, as if he could sense her dark mood. "But our Aang's a good kid. He's got a good heart. - Your Aang should still have a good heart. " He said, trying to sound more positive. "If you aren't happy with him, he'll come around...He'd want you to be happy surely. Things can't be that different in your universe."

"Did he mind? Aang? When I choose you?" Katara asked, a little quietly. Zuko rubbed the back of his neck and avoided her gaze. She knew he'd tell her in a moment. He'd always been honest.

"Well, he punched me in the face when I told him" Zuko confessed. Katara made a worried face. "No, it's okay." Zuko reassured her. "He'd only just found out, and I let him. I told him he could do it, if it made him feel better. He clocked me really hard too. But honestly, I think it was good for him. We're great friends now." He added quickly.

"Because he could punch you in the face?" Katara asked slowly.

"Probably. It got something out of his system, at least. He had been a bit snappy with me before." Katara raised her eye-brows again at this. "He'd suspected us, but we'd been trying to keep it a secret to spare his feelings" Zuko supplied, in answer to her unspoken question. "Anyway... He punched me and then just took off. The next day I got this really long, apologetic letter from him. He told me that he was going to find Guru Pathik...and a couple of months later he got back from his big Guru-quest, and he was different...he seemed very at peace with everything. He gave us his blessing. He's been supportive since then." Zuko said reassuringly. Katara nodded absorbing this.

They sat together for a long moment, not speaking but watching the waves. It didn't feel awkward. It was a companionable silence. It was nice. Katara found that she was sneaking little glances out of the corner of her eye at this Zuko. He'd curled his toes in the sand and was gazing out at the deep blue of the water. His shirt had fallen open a little bit, and she could see the starburst scar there. Scars and all, he was still the most beautiful person she'd ever seen.

She knew perfectly why the real Katara loved him so. Katara herself had known this universe's Zuko for less than a day, and already she was a little bit in love with him herself (This is not your world. This is not your boy – a voice in her head whispered). He'd made her feel so many things. She felt calmer, better and more optimistic after talking with him. Sure, he'd been rude, but then the way he'd held her when she cried had been so gentle and reassuring. He'd listened...more amazingly, he'd made her laugh. She felt like he understood her, and that was such a novel feeling for Katara. She hadn't felt properly understood or listened to for such a long time.

Then he turned his head and gave her a little, lopsided smile. He had a slight overbite, which struck Katara as more attractive than perfect teeth could ever be. She could understand why girls would want to kiss him. She wanted to kiss him herself, right then. She'd never felt an urge so powerful as the desire that flooded her in that moment. It would be so easy to lean over...

She stood up abruptly and mentally shook herself out of it. She knew she shouldn't be having these thoughts. "We should get back." She said firmly. He nodded wordlessly and stood. They started walking back towards the house along the beach.

She noticed when they were walking side-by-side, that he was much taller than her. Perhaps he wasn't that much taller than Real Katara, but at this moment, she couldn't see his face at all. If she couldn't see his face, she'd be able to get up the nerve to ask her next question. She'd never be able to ask him to his face. It was so embarrassing, but she wanted to know so badly.

"How did we even get together? In this universe?" she eventually asked.

Zuko paused for a moment, his steps halted. "It started suddenly." was the first thing he said, when he started walking again.

"It was the last day in Ba Sing Se, after the treaties were signed. I was packing to go home. You'd come to help – and by help, I mean you were pretty much doing it for me." He smirked at that. She looked at him questioningly. "I was still moving really stiffly then, because of..." He said, gesturing to his lightning scar. "Anyway, you seemed to know when it was hurting me or when I couldn't do things, and you just started helping...without me having to ask." There was a long pause. Katara hazarded a quick glance at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was smiling softly down at his feet.

"But that day, we'd been chatting a bit about how everyone would be going home, and what I was going to do back in the fire nation...and then you just stopped really suddenly. Then you said Monkey-feathers! really crossly. You threw some of my things in my suitcase like you were really pissed off at them, like my shirts had personally offended you."

"I'm sure that's not how it happened." Katara interrupted.

"Err, I was there. I would know!" Zuko said with a smirk. "So obviously I was worried about your mental state. I asked if you were okay and I rubbed your shoulder. Mostly to stop you breaking my stuff, you understand..." he was teasing her.

"Anyway, you turned around and just blurted out I really like you..no really." He said with a huge grin in response to Katara's horrified, embarrassed look. " You said Monkey-feathers, I really like you. Those were your exact words. You were really smooth about it." he trailed off, smiling at the memory.

"What happened then?" Katara asked.

"Then you kissed me. You just grabbed me like an octopus." Zuko said, as if it was obvious.

"Why would you even kiss me, if I was such a gross octopus?" Katara sniffed, trying to sound dignified, even though she felt like her face had gone a bright beetroot red.

"Are you kidding?! I was so delighted - it was like all my birthdays had come at once. Kissing you that day, it was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I nearly missed my airship back to the Fire Nation it was so great. I'd had such a massive crush on you for ages. " He was having too much fun retelling this, Katara thought.

"Since when?" she asked abruptly.

"Huh?"

"Since when did you have crush on me?" Katara asked more clearly.

"Since the catacombs. You offered to heal me, even though I was your enemy...I loved you for that." His answer surprised her.

"But I was so mean to you." She said softly. That meant he would have had a crush on her in the Western Air Temple, even when she was being horrible to him.

"I loved you for that too. You were so honest. I always knew where I stood with you." He said sincerely.

"I had no idea you felt that way." She whispered.

"Yeah, well I played it cool didn't I? I wasn't going to just randomly declare my love on some idle Tuesday and octopus grab you now, was I?" he said, a little too cheekily. She reached out with her bending towards the water, and splashed him for that one.

o0o0o0o0o00oo0

It was late afternoon by the time they got back to the house. She was welcomed back kindly by everyone. They had dinner. Suki and Toph started a lively debate about cross-bending, and entertained Katara's thoughts on the issues – even though they all knew this wasn't even her world. Still it was nice of them to listen, to include her.

For a brief, shining minute – Katara felt completely warm, loved and safe; and she couldn't shake off the optimistic feeling growing inside her. This was possible for her. She could go back to her world and reach out to all these people. They were still there, her friends.

Maybe she could go back and have this feeling again – it would be even sweeter, for being real. It wasn't impossible surely.

o0o0o0o0o00oo0